The Christmas tree in the Grand-Place in 1979 The Brussels Christmas tree is a

Christmas tree A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, or an artificial tree of similar appearance, associated with the celebration of Christmas. The custom was further developed in early modern ...

erected annually in the

Grand-Place The Grand-Place (French, ; "Grand Square"; also used in English) or Grote Markt (Dutch, ; "Big Market") is the central square of Brussels, Belgium. It is surrounded by opulent Baroque guildhalls of the former Guilds of Brussels and two larger ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. It has traditionally been a real tree either from the

Ardennes forest The Ardennes (french: Ardenne ; nl, Ardennen ; german: Ardennen; wa, Årdene ; lb, Ardennen ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Be ...

, from the city of

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

or from different countries as

diplomatic gift A diplomatic gift is a gift given by a :diplomat, politician or leader when visiting a foreign country. Usually the gift is reciprocated by the host. The use of diplomatic gifts dates back to the ancient world and givers have competed to outdo e ...

, except in 2012 when it was replaced with an abstract sculpture.

Traditional trees

Traditionally, the

in the centre of

hosts a real Christmas tree each year, taken from the

. The normal height for these trees is around high. The Grand-Place itself dates from the 17th century and has played host to a

Christmas market A Christmas market, also known as ''Christkindlmarkt'' (literally: ''Christ Child Market'', but the term "Christkind" usually refers to an angel-like "spirit of Christmas" rather than literally the Christ Child), ''Christkindlesmarkt'', ''Chris ...

each year since 2000.

2012 tree

On 30 November 2012, a high abstract-style tree was erected in the Grand-Place instead of a central real Christmas tree. It was designed to work with an overall theme of light installations in the Grand-Place, and allowed visitors to climb to the top of the "tree". It was constructed out of steel-framed boxes, wood and screening materials. It cost €40,000 ($52,000) to construct, which was described as about a third of the price of a real tree. The Belgian press reacted negatively to the installation of the tree, with some suggesting that it was erected to avoid offending

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

s. Brussels city councillor concurred with this sentiment, and also pointed out that it marked a change of name for the annual Christmas market to "Winter Pleasures". Fellow councillor

Philippe Close Philippe Close (born 18 March 1971 in Namur) is a Belgian politician, member of the Socialist Party and the current mayor of the city of Brussels (since 2017). Biography Close has a law degree from Université libre de Bruxelles. In 2000, he be ...

responded to that criticism by saying, "What we want is just to modernise the pleasure of winter, of this Christmas market and all the image of Brussels. The Christmas tree is not a religious symbol and actually lots of Muslims have a Christmas tree at home." By 1 December, an online petition against the installation had received 11,000 signatures. By 11 December, this had increased to 25,000. Due to concerns over vandalism during New Year's celebrations in the Grand-Place, it was announced in early December that the tree would be taken down on 28 December, instead of early January, as was the case with the real trees in the past.

References

{{coord, 50, 50, 48, N, 4, 21, 9, E, display=title Individual Christmas trees Buildings and structures in Brussels Tourist attractions in Brussels Christmas in Belgium City of Brussels Individual trees in Belgium

Traditional trees

2012 tree

See also

References